The Kharkiv region was liberated a year ago, but in the villages which experienced heavy fighting, life is struggling to resume. Some communities were almost completely destroyed. This is the case of Kamianka, near Izioum. Once a prosperous town of 1,200 inhabitants, today it looks like a ghost village.
2 mins
With our special envoys to Anastasia Becchio And Boris Vicith
In the distance, curls of black smoke rise into the sky. The front is only 50 km away. Only 36 families, or around 70 people, have returned and are trying to breathe new life into this village which once had around 1,200 inhabitants.
Placed on a log in his courtyard, Vitaly’s Lada still bears the letter Z of the occupying forces. He no longer pays attention to it, just like to this inscription on one of his walls: “ We are Russians, God is with us “.
The retired farmer’s priority is to find a way to save what remains of his house, which was hit by several shells, but six months after his return, he is not optimistic. “ Specialists advised us to destroy it to rebuild everything, but we have neither the means nor the strength. “, he explains. He calls out to his wife: “ Sveta, show them how we live! »
“ We live like homeless people in a stable »
“ There you go, this is where we sleep, eat, describe-She. Before, this is where we prepared food for our pigs and cows. We live like homeless people in a stable. »
Between a gutted grocery store and a charred house, Natalya’s is one of the few habitable ones, although without running water, gas or electricity, like in the rest of the village dotted with mines which have already left around ten people injured. This retired teacher spent the entire Russian occupation there with her son. “ These people who haven’t experienced the same thing as us, of course, they want everything to go quickly. But if they had seen what happened here: without leaving our courtyard, we counted up to 22 mortars, she recalls. We understand that it will take a long time to rebuild our village, but above all the war must stop, it is not far from here. »
Read alsoUkraine: the kamikaze drone, an essential device for a sluggish counter-offensive